Mr. Miguel Sanz, Director General, Turespaña, Spain, spoke on the subject of "Living and promoting sustainability" at the “Sustainable Destinations Summit 2023” in Mallorca, Spain.

Panel Discussion - Living and promoting sustainability
How do destinations committed to sustainability communicate and promote their attractions, products, and services and strive towards a balance between marketing and storytelling? How do markets, operators, and clients demand information and support? What have we learned from these responses to continue fostering sustainable and resilient destinations?

Moderator:
Mr. Michael Collins, Founder, Managing Director, TravelMedia.ie

Mr. Mark Tanzer, CEO, ABTA, UK
Ms. María Frontera, President FEHM, Federación Empresarial Hotelera de Mallorca, Spain
Mr. Miguel Sanz, Director-General, Turespaña, Spain
Mr. Andreu Serra, Conseller de Turismo, Consell Insular Mallorca, Spain
Mr. Thomas Ellerbeck, Member of the Group Executive Committee & Chief Sustainability Officer of TUI Group

Transcription:
Of course we do manage this with airlines and even in the promotion side. And I think I was in agreement with things that were said in the previous panel by Theme Biu and Sicide. It's about giving the sector and also the consumer the information they need to take a conscious decision. And the way we have been promoting, not just destinations, but also the travel agencies and tour guides is, come to this destination for this prize, is a value for money. And now we have to take into account that sustainability is also a thing to be considered. And what we have found out, we have conducted last year's survey, satisfaction survey, of 20,000 international tourists to Spain. And we asked them about general satisfaction. We asked them about accommodation, food, entertainment, culture, everything, and sustainability, their perception of sustainability in Spain. And while they have very clear opinions about accommodation, or food or culture or infrastructure or mobility, they do not have so much clearer of an opinion about sustainability. In fact, more than 25% of respondents said, "Do not know, do not answer." Meaning that they are not completely sure what do we mean when we ask them about their perception of sustainability in the destination? And I think that what we are doing now, what we will be launching in this year is a communication to inform the public, what do we mean when we talk about a sustainable destination, what do we mean when we talk about sustainable travel, responsible travel and what conscious decisions can they make to have a more sustainable trip? It is going to be the talk at some point. There will be regulation, there will be other, you know, norms and businesses approaches or companies approaches to sustainability. But at the end of the day, it's also going to be a decision taken by a consumer. And we want them to have as much information as possible. And that is also the case for transportation. Spain is in the southwest corner of Europe. It's far away from many of our resource markets. And we will have to change the narrative of what we propose to our visitors. Meaning that maybe you can, and it's good for us, maybe you should come long time and you know, have and see more places in the same, at the same time. And you will be traveling by other means of transport which has a, you know, reduced CO2 footprint. Or maybe you could also have a leisure trip when you do business, when you take a business trip. And it is a, and I think it's about information and I think that technology and airlines are working towards their, reduction of their carbon footprint by technology. But I think that from our side is about informing the public how to take more conscious decisions to be a more responsible traveler.

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